"Food for me was a connecting link to my grandmother, to my childhood, to my past. And what I found out is that for everybody, food is a connector to their roots, to their past in different ways. It gives you security; it gives you a profile of who you are, where you come from." - Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

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Friday, October 23, 2009

The authentic Dhansaak has mutton and veggies and daal. The rest of the method is similar as I have given below but mutton is cooked and then removed and then daal and veggies are ground and then added back to the mutton. It's been ages since I have had mutton ; also, mutton & daal combo is a bit overwhelming for me. So I have made the vegetarian version of the most popular parsi food - Dhansaak. For vegan version, use oil instead of ghee/clarified butter.

Method
1. Soak all the daals in water for 1/2 hour. Then pressure cook daals with veggies adding 1 1/2 cup water & turmeric powder.
2. Grind the cooked daal along with veggies. Let it cool down a bit. You may need to use a towel on the top of the lid of the blender to avoid hot liquid oozing out.
3. Heat oil or ghee in a saucepan. Add whole spices & curry leaves for tempering. Now add the ground masala paste and saute for 7 minutes.
4. Now add the ground daal and veggie mixture, salt to taste and 1 cup water.

5. Bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Crush the kasoori methi by hand and sprinkle over the simmering daal. Add more water if daal gets too thick. Discard any foam that may float on top.6. Serve along with brown rice and tareli kolmi & lemon wedges. Discard whole spices from the daal.

Note
1. When kept for a long time, this daal gets thicker. You may need to add more water and bring to boil again to adjust the consistency.This post is my entry to RCI - Parsi cuisine hosted by me! RCI event is started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine.